Daring-class Type 45 Air Defence Destroyer

The Type 45 is a new class of Anti-Air Warfare Destroyer to replace the Royal Navy's existing Type 42s. It will carry the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) capable of protecting the vessels themselves and ships in their company against aircraft and missiles, satisfying the Fleet's need for area air defence capability well into the next century. PAAMS is being procured collaboratively with France and Italy.

PAAMS equipment carried by each ship will include a 48-cell sylver vertical launching system (VLS), Aster 15 and 30 missiles, the highly capable SAMPSON multi-function radar (MFR) for surveillance and fire control, the S1850 long-range radar (LRR) for air/ surface search, and the command and control system. The Type 45 will also come equipped with 1 x Westland Lynx Mk8 (or 1 x Merlin Mk1) (capable of carrying Stingray Torpedoes and Sea Skua Missiles); 1 x medium calibre gun—4/" Mk8; and 2 x close range guns—30mm. Provision is also be made in the Type 45 design to enable other weapon systems to be fitted at a later date should that be decided. These include a surface-to-surface guided weapon; 2 x anti-air warfare inner layer defence—Phalanx torpedo launch systems; and Surface ship torpedo defence (SSTD).

The common new generation frigate, CNGF, programme comprised two separate but linked collaborative UK/France/Italy projects; the principal anti-air missile system, PAAMS, and Project HORIZON which embraced the warship itself and all other weapon, command and communications systems. During the debate on defence equipment on 26 April 1999, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence announced (Official Report, cols. 50–1) that the three partners had concluded that, while collaboration on the PAAMS project would continue, it would not be cost-effective to continue to seek a single prime contractor for the HORIZON warship. The UK undertook a national program for the warship, which is to be known as the type 45 anti-air warfare destroyer.

The original estimated in-service date, ISD, for CNGF was December 2002. This slipped, largely owing to the need to synchronise the warship and combat systems programmes, and the tri-nationally agreed ISD was amended to June 2004. The last offer from HORIZON industry in April 1999 pointed to a UK first of class being further delayed until 2007. It was anticipated that the national program could be delivered within a similar timescale.

The class is known as the 'D' Class. HMS Daring, HMS Dauntless, HMS Diamond, HMS Dragon, HMS Defender and HMS Duncan were announced as the names of the first six ships. The first of class, HMS Daring, entered service with the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) Sea Viper performance having been tested but before the missile had been fired from a destroyer. The Department planned to fit a number of equipments incrementally on ships after they had come into service, meaning that the full capability of the ship would not be available until the middle of the decade.

The Type 45 Destroyers equipped with PAAMS replaced the current Type 42 Destroyers fitted with the Sea Dart anti-air warfare system. Designed in the 1960s, Sea Dart provides limited effectiveness against emerging stressing 21st century threats. A program of modifications to upgrade Sea Dart so that it can deal more effectively with modern threats such as sea-skimming and high-diving missiles was undertaken. The upgrade equipping Sea Dart with infrared fuses was originally forecast to come into service in 1993, but ran eight years late, primarily due to technical difficulties. It was forecast to come into service in mid-2001 at a cost of £43 million. This delay contributed to the anti-air capability shortfall.

The Type 45 Destroyer's principal role will be anti-air warfare and, equipped with PAAMS, the British Navy believes that the ship will be a world leader in its Class, capable of meeting both existing and emerging threats. The new ship has also been designed to contribute to a wide range of other operational scenarios ranging from humanitarian relief to anti-drug and embargo operations and incorporates significant margins of growth to facilitate future upgrades and added capability.

By 1999 it appeared that the first three Type 45 Destroyers would enter service with some capability shortfalls because some capabilities, such as a sonar, have been traded-off to make the ships affordable and to enable them to be brought into service sooner. The lack of sonar could impose operational and ship scheduling constraints on the initial ships until it is fitted. For example, without sonar it is unlikely that the Type 45 Destroyers would be deployed alone to theaters where a significant submarine threat is perceived. To address the shortfalls, the Department planned an Incremental Acquisition Program whose priorities are the fitting of sonar and improved command and control, situational awareness and interoperability functions.

Dr Tyler explained that there had been some recent set-backs in the program: "HMS Daring has got PAAMS capability today. The process of generating what we would call full operating capability, trialled, verified and tested, is going to take . a couple of years longer to generate. You might have read reports recently about our final trials firing which was not successful. It is too early for us to come up with the diagnosis for that, but that has been a set back in terms of the generation of the full capability and we are working extremely hard with the other two partner nations in the company to resolve what the problems were with that firing."

The Type 45 Destroyer provides a much greater capability compared to the Type 42 it replaced, but experienced considerable delays of over two years and cost increases of £1.5 billion because of over-optimism about what could be achieved, inappropriate commercial arrangements and poor project management in the early stages.

The White Paper "Securing Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The Strategic Defence Review" (Cm 7948), presented to the House on 19 October 2010, explained the Government's intention to make certain changes to the armed forces in order to deliver the force structure we require for the future and to help address the legacy of unaffordability in the defence budget. The six Type 45 destroyers would be procured.

Warships broke down in the Persian Gulf because they were not designed for the hot environment. First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones admitted the Royal Navy would not be able to operate the ships "all the time in every place on every day of the year" despite a costly refit. The vessels would have to undergo a long period of maintenance. The engine problems are understood to stem from the intercooler units, which recycle heat from the exhaust, and slow down in warm waters. This left the engine unable to generate enough power, eventually leading to electrical failure.

All six of the ships which made up the fleet were designed using engine systems that cut out in warm waters — not exactly ideal for the Persian Gulf, where the average water temperature is said to range between 24 to 32 degrees. The Daily Mail reported in June 2018 that the engines had been built by Rolls-Royce who allegedly claims that the MoD did not tell them that the 8,000-ton ships would be spending prolonged periods of time in warm waters, leaving them unable to cope in such environments.

An MoD spokesman said 29 January 2016: "The Type 45 destroyers are hugely capable ships and have consistently made a difference to our safety and security. In our defence review last year we committed to improving the Type 45's power and propulsion system through a series of machinery upgrades during planned maintenance, which will ensure increased availability and resilience over the life of the ships." The Royal Navy's most modern warships are to have huge holes cut in their sides to allow mechanics to strip out and replace the engines of the destroyers. The work, which will be staggered to allow some ships to remain available for operational commitments at all times, is expected to cost tens of millions of pounds, although the MoD has not disclosed the exact bill. It followed reports of persistent problems with the engines and power systems on the ships. Cutting into the side of the ship is a normal way to access the engine rooms in the bottom of the ship.

"In October 2016, [the HMS Duncan], escorted by the frigate HMS Richmond, was dispatched […] to intercept and "man-mark" a fleet of Russian Navy vessels […] on their way to Syria," an article from the Telegraph reported. "The destroyer then escorted the fleet out of the Channel and into the North Atlantic. A Royal Navy spokesperson said, ‘HMS Duncan experienced technical issues and will resume operations once a full assessment has taken place,'" the article continued.

British Type 45 destroyers are so loud Russian submarines can hear them 100 miles away, a British Navy officer revealed 05 February 2017. The excessive noise is due to a design flaw. British Rear Admiral Chris Parry said the country's brand new Type 45 destroyers have turned out to be "as noisy as hell" because of construction flaws, and now they're so loud Russian submarines can hear them from a distance of up to 100 miles.

"We used to put little wooden wedges between the hatchclips and the hatches in my destroyer to stop them rattling so we could keep the noise down," Parry told the Sunday Times in an interview. According to the admiral, nobody considered noise suppression when designing the ship, which now makes them extremely vulnerable to submarines.

The British Ministry of Defense responded by saying that the Type 45 was designed as an air defense warship and that stealth was not a "premium requirement," according to The Independent.

The type-45 destroyers, costing a whacking £1 billion each and described as the ‘backbone’ of the UK’s navy, spent about 80% of 2017 in the dock, it was widely reported in June 2018. Embarrassingly, it was found that two of the fleet’s leading warships — which are stationed in the Persian Gulf — HMS Dauntless and HMS Defender, did not take to the high seas at all in 2017.